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{
    "id": 1376345,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1376345/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Crystal Asige",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "principles in Article 232 of the Constitution. Among these principles is the vital involvement of citizens in policy-making processes. Furthermore, the Report underscores the constitutional commitment to providing fair and equal opportunities for appointment, training and career advancement across all tiers of public service of men and women, members of all ethnic groups, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). It is important to highlight that we are still far from meeting constitutional values and principles, particularly in the inclusion of PWDs. Case in point of this Committee itself, diversity was met in terms of gender; there were men and women on the Committee. Diversity was met in terms of different political parties being seen in the Committee. Also, we had diversity in terms of different parts of the country as well as being included and represented in this Committee. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any Committee Member that had disability and this is exactly the reason this is to the Mover of this Motion. This is exactly why we say diversity is imperative to have when it comes to any decision-making table because there will be voices and perspectives that may be left behind by virtue of not having that seat filled on that table. In my case and my submission, I am unfortunately disappointed that PWDs were not represented in this committee. Currently, only approximately 1.4 per cent of the Public Service Commission's employees are PwDs, falling short of the constitutional threshold by 3.6 per cent. In the private sector, I believe reports say that Safaricom is at around 1.2 per cent, still below the five per cent threshold. The objective of my first recommendation to the addendum of this Report is to amend the County Governments Act No.17 of 2012, so as to provide for representation of PWDs in the county assemblies. Article 177 of the Constitution as read with Section 7 of the County Governments Act, 2012, provides for the membership of a county assembly. Section 7(1) (a) of the Act specifically provides that - “The county assembly shall comprise of six nominated members contemplated in Article 177 of the Constitution.” This provision only gives an overall figure of the nominated slots, but does not de-cluster the slots. What exactly does this mean? This means that of the six slots in every county assembly that should represent special interest groups, because the six are not clearly allocated to say, for example, two will belong to PWDs, two will belong to youth, and two will belong to workers. Since there is no clarification in the Constitution, what has happened for years and years and even in the last election, is that county assemblies continue to run unconstitutionally because they do not have any PWD representatives within them. In the last election of 2022, there have been at least 21 county assemblies without any representation of disability in them, including this one that we are sitting in today, Nairobi City County, the capital city; where out of approximately 120 MCAs there are"
}